Violent crime rate takes first big jump since '93

Murder rate climbs in smaller cities

For the first time in 13 years, the violent crime rate has jumped significantly in the United States, with the biggest increase in the Midwest, according to figures released by the FBI on Monday.

The murder rate in the United States shot up 4.8 percent last year, and overall violent crime was up 2.5 percent for the year, marking the first significant annual increase in crime in the United States since 1993, the FBI said.

...FBI officials who compiled the figures supplied by local police departments noted sharp variations among cities, and even among categories of crime within cities, leaving few discernible patterns.

In Detroit, where murders declined, robberies increased sharply. In most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, overall crime declined, while in many small to medium cities crime, including murders, increased.

Authorities said the spread of gangs into smaller cities with fewer police resources may account for some of the violence.

In Memphis the number of murders rose from 107 in 2004 to 136 in 2005. In Norfolk, Virginia, murders rose from 35 to 58; in Tulsa, from 48 to 58; and in St. Louis, from 113 to 131...

--CNN

Well, I can't figure out what's really going on here -- but wasn't the expansion of "right to carry" gun laws supposed to just keep reducing crime until the last "gun grabber" was shamed into silence and a fully armed, crime-free America was finally achieved? I can't help noticing that every city cited in this article is in a state that, according to the map at the link, has a "shall issue" law, which is the gun lobby's ideal. John Lott, your thoughts?